Silver Basketball award, and was named a Second Team All-American. Harris decided to leave college early after his junior year to play in the NBA. NBA career Draft day Days prior to the draft, the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks agreed to a deal that involved the Wizards' 5th overall pick going to the Mavs along with Jerry Stackhouse and Christian Laettner in exchange for Antawn Jamison. NBA rules prevented teams from trading draft picks for two consecutive years (in addition to trade kicker details in Laettner's contract) so the deal was momentarily delayed until the actual draft in which Washington selected Harris and subsequently traded him to the Mavericks to complete the deal. The Mavs' plan was to bring Harris along slowly under the tutelage of all-star point guard Steve Nash but Nash ended up leaving the team through free agency and signing with the Phoenix Suns. Dallas Mavericks (2004–2008) In Harris's rookie season, he averaged 5.7 points and 2.2 assist per game, but put up a PER of 14.69. He ranked 2nd in the NBA in steals per 48 minutes at 3.15 (behind Larry Hughes), and in November 2004 was named the Rookie of the Month. Although he started for much of the early portion of the season, his playing time dwindled as the season progressed. Harris showed marked improvement in the early stages of the 2005–06 season, especially when it came to scoring; as a result, his minutes increased and he took more ball-handling responsibilities from Jason Terry. He is known for his exceptional speed, earning comparisons to other NBA guards like the Phoenix Suns' Leandro Barbosa and his good friend, the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade. He ended the year with averages of 9.9 points and 3.2 assists per game. He improved his jump-shot and his ability to split defenses and get to the rim. Midway through the year, he sustained a leg injury and missed most of the rest of the regular season. Harris returned for the playoffs and played a huge role in toppling the Mavericks' longtime rivals, the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs had dominated the Mavs in recent playoff history, ending their playoff runs in 6 games in 2003 and 5 games in 2001. Devin Harris and the Mavericks reached the 2006 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Miami Heat 4 games to 2. In the 2006–07 season, Harris averaged 10.2 points,